


The Place Where You Live

by EzraTheBlue



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cute, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Home Visit, Insecurity, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 09:10:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19809202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzraTheBlue/pseuds/EzraTheBlue
Summary: Prompto invites Ignis over to his house for a date night, only to realize there's some things in his place he doesn't want Ignis to see.





	The Place Where You Live

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to the Promnis Discord server for spitballing this idea with me!
> 
> Super special thanks to [Callie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SongOfMarbule) for beta reading!

**The Place Where You Live**

House clean? Check.

Fail-proof clam puttanesca recipe? Check. 

Homework done? Check.

Prompto was running a dustrag over the television and running over his to-do list in his head. He’d cleaned the house as best as he could - he wasn’t perfect. Sometimes he missed patches of dust on the chairs his parents never sat in or bits of lint on carpets in rooms he didn’t use, or just, you know, because he wasn’t superhuman. He wasn’t Ignis. 

He tried to think two steps ahead, with canned Ebony in the refrigerator and a fresh bag of grounds next to the coffee machine he’d snatched up secondhand. He had bought two cakes because he didn’t know which Ignis might prefer. He had rented a bunch of different movies and got all the old board games out of the basement so Ignis could do whatever he wanted. Ignis had to have a nice time. Prompto was sure he'd just curl up and die if he disappointed Ignis.

It was his first time inviting Ignis over since he’d (fearfully, timidly, but completely-unable-to-hold-it-in-anymore-ly) admitted his crush. Ignis had smiled with obvious surprise, saying, "There's no need to be shy. I appreciate your honesty, and you deserve it in return.” Ignis then took his hand and squeezed it tight, and Prompto thought his heart might pop when Ignis said: “You've drawn my eye, as well."

With that, Ignis had given him a chance. Perfect, godlike Ignis, so cool, so collected, so mature, had given _him_ a chance to impress him! All they’d had time for between school and their respective jobs was a few coffee dates and a walk in the park, but this was new. This was special. Ignis had taken the night off while Noctis was visiting his father at the Citadel. Prompto had a night off of his job at the diner. His funds were thin, and he wouldn't dare impose on Ignis' pockets, but a dinner date and a visit to his home weren't beyond the pale. Ignis had readily accepted. 

Now, Prompto just had to make something of it.

He thought it through one more time. Main rooms presentable? Check. (Ignis would have done a better job; he was a house-straightening God who could keep up with even Noctis' carelessness.) A pot of water for pasta and a pan of puttanesca bubbling away on the stove? Check. (Ignis' sauce would be way better, and Prompto was sure the pasta water was too salty.) Distractions eliminated? Phone on silent, no homework, no Noctis, nothing that would get between him and a few minutes of privacy with Iggy.

They'd never been alone like this before. The very thought put heat in Prompto's cheeks. He'd be lying to himself if he didn't get to thinking what might happen if he and Ignis were alone in his bedroom…

The bedroom.

Prompto bolted up the stairs and threw his door open to be greeted by his childhood bedroom. He moaned in horror. Chocobo plushies all over his bed, check. Comic books and graphic novels on his shelf, check. Everywhere he looked he ticked off another box on the list of "oh no." Prompto swallowed hard as he looked first at the plushies, then at the video game and rock band posters plastering the walls, then the figurines set up on his shelf and action figures still posed on his chest of drawers. A cloud of selfies with Noct from arcade outings or school trips, pasted together with tape, hung on the back of his door. His old photographs from when he was losing weight still hung on his mirror, with his chubby cheeks, his chubby _everything_ , and Prompto stared at the _child_ who still faced him in the mirror. 

Ignis would take one look at this and remember just what Prompto was next to him: an overexcited, overgrown little boy. 

Ignis would laugh at Prompto's _puppy love_ and brush him off. Letting Ignis see how immature he was would crush any chance Ignis would have been willing to give him, as sure as a butterfly under a boot.

Prompto had to do something about it. It was time he become the man Ignis deserved.

He rolled up the posters and stowed them in his closet. He shoved his longboxes under his bed and stacked the graphic novels next to it, leaving a choice few books. His video games got jammed into his pajama drawer. The figurines and action figures went into a cardboard box, which was shoved up against the posters. He stripped the photo collages off the wall and mirror. The chocobos - and why did he have a legit flock of chocobos?! - all got stowed wherever there was space. The fat chocobo in the closet, a bunch of medium ones he'd gotten in different colors got stuffed under the bed or in with his pants, and the little ones got stashed anywhere they would fit. He was just hiding his last one, a ragged old thing he'd gotten as a gift before he could remember, when the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" Prompto started for the door, then cast one last judgmental look around his room. His bedspread - blue, no chocobos, thank the stars - was plain enough, his walls were relatively clean and the books he had left stood upright on the shelf. The room was clean enough. "Like a mature adult's room," he told himself, and put on a wobbly smile. "Because I'm an adult."

Shame still sat thick in his throat like he'd tried to swallow a handful of vitamins all at once. 

Prompto opened the door wide, a practiced smile ready, to find Ignis waiting on the stair, hair styled, dressed down to his shirtsleeves and carrying a white paper bag. "Good afternoon. May I come in?" He indicated the bag with a flourish and a dashing smile. "I come bearing gifts."

"Of course, sorry if I kept you! Gifts now, or later?" Prompto winked and stood out of Ignis' way so he could enter.

"Later, I believe. They're cannolis, an Altissian delicacy. Crisp tubes of pastry filled with sweet cream." Ignis opened the bag, and Prompto caught a whiff of the sweetest vanilla. "As you offered to make dinner, I brought dessert from my favorite bakery."

"That's amazing, they smell so good!" Prompto made a conscious decision to forget the cakes he’d bought - _slick move, genius, of course Ignis would have something better_ \- "Let me put them in the fridge so they stay tasty."

Prompto took a second while Ignis took his shoes off to add his linguine to the water, and set a timer for al dente. He put the cannolis in the refrigerator, but when he turned, Ignis was lifting the lid on the puttanesca sauce and taking up a spoon. "H-hey, don't get nosy now! It's still, uh, developing flavor!"

"Apologies." Ignis smiled wryly. "I didn't know you cooked."

"I get by," Prompto deflected, dodging Ignis' amused gaze and fidgeting. "Um, my neighbor gave me a recipe from a magazine. I figure I can handle scrambled eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches, but the only thing keeping me from making pasta sauce is actually doing it."

"Taking a leap of faith, are we?" Ignis smirked and set his hands on his hips. "Very well, I can't wait to see if you stick the landing."

"Yeah?" Prompto chuckled and resisted a self-deprecating _"me, too."_ "Uh, so we got a few minutes." He gestured around the room. "I could give you the grand tour, if you'd like?"

"A tour would be delightful.” Ignis clapped his hands together, already pleased and amused. “I see we’ve found the kitchen.”

“Mmmyup! Eat-in dining, for convenience!” Prompto grinned and strolled over to the table, then patted his usual chair. “This is my spot. The other chairs are for my folks and a guest, if we had one.”

“Ah.” Ignis’ brow furrowed, and panic jumped up Prompto’s throat like a rowdy frog dropped into boiling water. Ignis ran a finger over the crown of his mom’s chair - or was that dad’s? It was hard to remember the last time he’d seen either at the table with him - then turned to Prompto with a mild look that stifled the butterflies in Prompto’s throat. “It’s cozy.”

“Y-yeah. Perfect for a family of three.” Prompto dodged around the knowledge that only one of those chairs ever really got used anymore, then again around the fact that his kitchen was tiny and pathetic compared to the galley in Noctis’ penthouse. “It’s good for homework, too.”

That got Ignis’ eyes to crinkle a little. “Ah.” A curious look flattened his expression, and the frog that had settled back in Prompto’s throat shifted and squirmed. “Would you care to show me the rest?”

Prompto showed Ignis what he could, but there wasn’t much to see. He had a den where the big TV was, but his parents didn’t let him hook his consoles to it. Ignis tested the couch cushions with a push, then perused the old photographs of landscapes hung on the wall: Leide, Duscae, the ruins at Solheim, places they’d gone. Ignis gently straightened one of the frames, a slight frown creasing his forehead again. “Did you take these?”

“Nah, never been anywhere near there!” Prompto chuckled sheepishly. “Maybe someday, right?” 

Ignis hummed, then looked at the magazines and catalogues stacked on the coffee table (Prompto would replace them when the new ones came in, just in case his parents wanted to see when they came home), then surveyed the DVD rack.

“Old movies.”

“My folks love the classics.”

Ignis seemed disappointed, that muted, sad expression a little more prominent, and Prompto noticed him still looking at the art on the walls as they scaled the stairs. He couldn’t show Ignis his folks’ room, and why would he care about the bathroom, so instead he opened the door to his room. 

“And here it is, my room!”

Ignis peered in, and Prompto actually saw him wilt. “It’s kinda small, right? It was way bigger when I was little, but, uh, I grew up, yeah?” He laughed nervously, as Ignis took in the bare walls and the cleared surfaces.

“You’re rather… cleaner than I had imagined.”

“Hey, I’m not like Noct, I don’t have y- anyone to clean up after me!” Prompto crossed his arms. “I take care of my stuff!” 

“I suppose that’s encouraging.” Ignis managed a wry smile, but the wobble in his voice betrayed confusion as he looked over the walls, then the plain bedspread. “I suppose... you like blue?”

“I’m always on a toss up between blue and red.” Prompto chuckled. “I’d paint if my folks would let me, but when I ask, they say they don’t want me to paint it some crazy color they can’t paint over when I move out.”

“Ah.” Now Ignis sounded low, a little sad, a little angry. “I suppose I understand the sentiment, but this…”

Before Ignis could tell him what “this” was, the timer went off in the kitchen. “Oh crap, the pasta!” Prompto turned tail, and waved for Ignis to follow. “Can I get a quick hand, Iggy?”

Ignis happily helped Prompto drain the linguine, and Prompto split it between two bowls then divided the puttanesca sauce on top. He felt a nervous slithering in the pit of his gut as he handed Ignis his dish. “Guests first.”

“Such a courteous host.” Ignis accepted it with a gracious little bow, then sat directly across from Prompto’s place. Prompto actually had to think hard to recall the last time anyone had shared the table with him, had been in this house with him. Then, he sat down across from Ignis, that same anxiety still whirling around in his chest like a building storm. He masked it with a smile and a fist clenched against his leg.

Ignis hummed with pleasure as he tasted the puttanesca. “Delightful. You’ve got potential, when you put your mind to something.” He ran the tines of the fork across his lower lip, subtly licking the last of the sauce on it away, before turning his fork in the pasta. “Perhaps you can be my sous-chef sometime.”

“I’d love that!” Prompto grinned proudly, but even that didn’t wick away the ice in his nerves. Sure enough, frustrated curiosity swept over Ignis' expression, muted beneath his usual smile. “Um, is something the matter? Did I overdo it on the anchovies?”

“Oh, no, but the capers - er. No, Prompto, dinner is lovely.” Ignis set his fork down for a moment. “No, I merely had some curiosity about… quite honestly, your home.” Ignis motioned around them. “It seems plain - no, not plain. The art is lovely, and the rooms are well-appointed, and despite its modest size, it seems it would be a comfortable home. However…” Ignis hesitated, tapping his lip as anxiety constricted Prompto's lungs.

“However?”

“It doesn’t seem like yours.” Ignis sighed. “I don't mean to be dour, but it’s strange. There are no photographs of you with your family. I didn’t notice any family picture albums either, no evidence of family vacations.”

“Oh.” Prompto bit his lip, then managed a weak laugh. “My, uh, folks are photo-shy. My dad’s ex-Crownsguard, I think it’s a thing.” 

“I see.” Ignis picked up his fork, only to move some of the pasta around the plate. “Even then, your own bedroom hardly has a touch of your presence in it. I was honestly quite eager to see your video game collection, and how it stacks up against Noctis’.” He chuckled humorlessly, and Prompto winced.

“Oh, um, they’re in a drawer! I can show you after dinner! I’ll tell you now, Noct has way more than me.” Prompto laughed again, but only because laughing would hurt less than anything else. It was true; removing all of his _childish_ things had removed any sign that he lived here at all. That room had been his space, and he tried to keep the rest of the house the way it had been when his parents had left so they’d be able to come back to their home as it had been. There was no real evidence of him anywhere else in the house, except his lonely footprints stomping down the welcome mat, his school backpack hung in the closet where his parents’ jackets used to be, and everything he’d shoved away where Ignis wouldn’t see it. 

He'd erased himself when he'd hidden everything Ignis would deride him for, and it had been too easy.

Prompto made small talk around the lump in his throat the rest of dinner, and led Ignis back to his bedroom. Prompto hoped Ignis wouldn’t spot his patterned pajamas as he slid the drawer open. Moreover, hoped Ignis wouldn’t think his video game collection was silly, but then, Ignis already knew he played video games, how bad could it be? Ignis was looking at the walls, and Prompto noticed him picking at a scrap of the tape left from under his posters. He swallowed hard and spoke a little too loud: “My consoles are all hooked up to this TV, so, uh, I keep my games in here.” He slid the drawer open and-

Out popped a chocobo.

“A-ha!” Ignis snapped his fingers and gingerly picked the chocobo up in both hands. Prompto, mortified, gaped with his jaw halfway to the floor as Ignis cradled his oldest, most favorite chocobo plushie in his hands, but his eyes were alight like they hadn’t been since he entered the house and he turned, lifting the plushie as if to worship the sun. “Look at this cute little fellow! Whatever were you doing in there, little one?”

“Oh - hah! I, uh, forgot about him!” Prompto made to reach for the chocobo plushie. “He’s - um - well -”

“Here, you shouldn’t live in a cramped drawer!” Ignis turned and carefully planted the plushie at the head of Prompto’s bed, smiling far too proudly. “That’s more like it, isn’t it?” He spoke to Prompto rather than the chocobo: “Now it feels more like you.”

Prompto’s heart tumbled after his jaw now, hitting the floor with what had to be an audible _thud_. 

Ignis faced him, expression curious and soft. “I had honestly expected quite a few more chocobos, you know. I admit, I rather like them myself. Seeing such a plain room made me wonder how someone as vibrant as you could live in this empty space.” 

Prompto inhaled, hanging his head and letting his shoulders sink, like a butterfly spreading its wings either to fly off or to wait to be crushed underfoot: “I… have more. I just put them away so you wouldn’t think I was weird.”

“Darling, if you thought a few chocobos might change my opinion of you, then clearly you have no idea what my opinion of you is.” Ignis opened his arms, gesturing around him. “I’d like to see them. Every last one.” Then, his eyes crinkled up at the edges with affectionate amusement. “And every poster you took down, everything you removed from your shelf, and anything else you might have thought you’d be embarrassed for me to discover.”

Prompto stammered a protest for all of five seconds, before letting it fall to the ground in the face of Ignis' naked warmth. The snake unwound from around his lungs, and the frog in his chest settled for good. “Y-yeah.”

Ignis helped Prompto redecorate with surprising efficiency. He seemed to know how to match his action figures and figurines to the blank spots in the thin dust on his chest of drawers, and sorted Prompto’s graphic novels by title. He seemed more delighted by the moment as they uncovered more and more evidence of Prompto that Prompto had buried and put it back in place. With each item restored, another piece of Prompto’s spirit fell back into place.

“I admit, I usually must wear a mask when I’m on duty. I need to remain stern and firm, a wall. It’s a relief to step back and be myself.” Ignis seemed very much himself as he tacked posters back into place with bits of tape and poster putty. "Coming home to my books, my family's portraits, my knick-knacks, it's a comfort. I can let down my guard in my own place."

"I guess." Prompto avoided meeting his gaze as he lined his action figures back up. He actually did feel better when he got the figurines posed the way he liked them. 

In hardly an hour, Prompto's room was just the way it had been, and Ignis looked delighted as he took it in, his whole face lit up like sunlight on daisies. "Splendid! I see it now! This is most certainly where Prompto lives."

Prompto took a look around, the familiar dregs of shame still roiling in him. "You don't think it's kinda, you know, childish?"

"No! Nonsense! It’s overflowing with your love!” Ignis motioned around. Chocobos, video games, music, Noctis. All things he loved. “And even if it were childish, why should I mind?" Ignis turned to him, then took his hands. "Your boyish charm and exuberant enthusiasm are two of the things I like most about you. You should never hide those qualities from me." He squeezed Prompto's hands tight, grounding him in his space, and his face softened. "You'll break my heart if you hide my Prompto away."

Prompto felt a shock to his core at the notion that even if he wasn't the man Ignis deserved, he was absolutely the one he wanted. "You really don't mind that I'm, y'know." He gripped Ignis' fingers to keep his own from shaking. "Like this?"

"Mind? Never." Ignis eyes crinkled up with fondness, delight in every crease. "I adore you, not whatever person lived in the empty room that you showed me." Then, he ducked Prompto's wide-eyed gaze, looking _bashful_. Ignis, _bashful!_ "Truly, I wonder if you might not find me boring.” 

“No way! All the cool stuff you can do, and everything you know?” Prompto furiously shook his head. “You’re so amazing, I didn’t know if I’d measure up!”

Ignis smiled wryly and curled his hand around Prompto’s cheek. “You don’t have to measure up to anything, I’m not coming after you with a yardstick. I just want to be here.” Ignis gracefully stepped back, then seated himself on Prompto’s bed, looking at home among the plushies. “I like your room. It’s _you_. In fact, the only thing you’re missing is someone to share it with.” He gave a coy wink. “Do you think there might be room for me here?”

Prompto shivered a little as Ignis nestled in with his plushies, and nodded, flapping his hand at one of the walls. “I’ll totally redecorate. Iggy corner, right there. Coeurls everywhere. Photos of us.” 

Ignis laughed softly, tossing his head back. “I do like the way you think.” Then, he patted the bed. “Come here. Why don’t we play something together?”

“You play?” Prompto, wide-eyed, grabbed his controllers and joined Ignis, seated up against his fat chocobo. Ignis sat forward, chuckling.

“I used to _have to_ play with Noct. Don’t tell him I enjoy it.” Ignis winked again. “Now, what would you like me to beat you in: Super Mako Kart or Strife Fighter Seven?”

Prompto nearly guffawed as he turned the system on. “Oh, Iggy, you got a storm coming!”

They ate cannolis and slices of orange spice cake (Ignis promised they would share the chocolate cake with Noctis) and Ignis made them cocoa, and they raced and fought and split wins and losses. Prompto’s eyelids were sinking when the controllers finally ran out of battery, but they were both comfortable against the chocobos. Prompto slumped against Ignis in defeat.

"Hey, thanks," he murmured into Ignis' collar. “For coming to my place, and… everything else.” He smelled of their dinner and musky cologne, like home in a way home had never been.

"I should be thanking you, so I shall. Thank you, my dear." Ignis pressed a chaste kiss to his brow. “Perhaps I should have brought a bag.”

“Mm. S’fine. Just stay.” He settled against Ignis and the fat chocobo. Ignis tangled his fingers into Prompto’s bangs, murmuring against his neck as Prompto lay into his chest:

“A whole chocobo den, I think. I’ll need more room to properly contain all the love in your heart.” Ignis sighed and pulled his arm tighter around Prompto. “I’ll have to make a place where you can be exactly who you are.”

Perfect night. All boxes ticked. He even got to sleep with Ignis.

Ignis held him tight, and Prompto slept surrounded by things he loved.

**Author's Note:**

> This was literally inspired by me making my bed. I was putting my teddy bear at the head of the bed and had a moment of "wow I'm lucky my SO is cool with me sleeping with a teddy bear," and out popped this.


End file.
